One of the biggest moments of the pickleball year came during the MLP Draft, when Anna Bright became pro pickleball’s first million-dollar player and Jorja Johnson was surprisingly dropped by the Dallas Flash before being picked up by the New Jersey Fives.

Jorja recently joined JW Johnson on the Pickleballers Podcast, where the siblings opened up about the major shift and what it means for the next chapter of her career.

“Dropping me wasn’t the original plan,” said Jorja. 

The Flash needed to drop one player, and the expected options were JW, Hurricane Tyra Black, or Augie Ge. 

But in a last-minute twist, Flash owner Mark Molthan changed course.

“The intention was to pick me back up, but I don’t think anyone expected the bidding to go that high. It was way more than the first draft. I’m not offended, but that was my first time that I ever changed teams mid-season,” explained Jorja. 

“He thought that if he dropped you, no other team would go after you because you’re Dallas Flash family,” said Roscoe Bellamy, co-host of Pickleballers. “JW is on the team, and everyone knows you want to play for the Flash. I think the Fives bidding that high for you and basically stealing you was the craziest thing ever in the pickleball community.”

“Leaving the Flash was a lot because they’ve started to build these cultures within the team, and it was just a big, big change,” noted Jorja. “Before, JW and I would play against each other all the time and it wasn’t that big of a deal because MLP was just a fun event. Now, it’s changed so much.”

JW said the Flash group chat was devastated after Jorja was picked up by the Fives.

“When we found out she was with the Fives, we were all super surprised. Then we were all so sad, but that’s just how it is,” he mentioned. “You can’t really do anything about it, but we were definitely sad about it for a little while.”

Now paired with Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja is part of what could be the strongest women’s duo in MLP.

“Playing will Anna Leigh will be exciting and fun,” praised Jorja. “When we played Daytona together, we had a good time. I thought we played pretty well together.”

Even so, Jorja still looks back fondly on her time with the Flash.

She said her favorite moment of her pickleball career was winning the 2024 MLP title with the team.

“Winning MLP was just so cool. We had been counted out all season. Even though we’d beaten all the best teams, I think everyone was really heavy on the Fives and the Shock being the favorites to win. So us winning, even in the semis, everyone was blown away,” concluded Jorja. “They called it a “Cinderella story” and we had something to prove because we’d been doing decent all season. Winning was the coolest feeling ever, and we were in Orlando so we brought in a bunch of our friends. It was just awesome.”

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